


the bluest things on earth

by blazeofglory



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Feelings Realization, Getting Together, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 17:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11040765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazeofglory/pseuds/blazeofglory
Summary: Kent Parson isn't gay, heisn't, but there's... There's something about Jack Zimmermann.





	the bluest things on earth

There’s something about Jack Zimmermann. 

At first, Kent thinks that maybe it’s just his hockey. After all, Jack plays _damn_ good hockey—better than anyone else on their team, and their team is pretty good, so that’s saying something.

But whatever it is about Jack—it persists off the ice, so it can’t just be his beautiful hockey.

Kent thinks for a little bit that, perhaps, it’s Jack’s eyes. The way he looks at Kent, the way he looks at the puck; the way he _looks_ at everything around him. He’s alive, he’s aware, he’s bright blue, he’s _electric._ Kent’s always liked pretty things, why should Jack Zimmermann’s eyes break that lifelong pattern?

Kent’s not _gay_ , though, is the thing. That’s the crux of the problem, what keeps him awake at night, what makes him unable to meet Jack’s paralyzing eyes when they land on him.

Kent’s not gay. He’s _not_. But Jack Zimmermann… there’s something about him. Kent doesn’t know what it is. It’s not just the hockey, not just the eyes, but it’s… It’s the way that Jack smiles at Kent for the first time, joyous and bright the first time his pass connects without looking. It’s the way that Jack offers Kent an earbud when they sit next to each other on the bus. It’s the way that Jack bites his lip before speaking sometimes, and Kent can’t make himself look away from his mouth for long minutes after.

Jack’s lips look like they would be nice to kiss; maybe that’s what it is.

Kent and Jack become friends, quickly and easy as breathing, within the span of their first month on the same team. It’s simple the way nothing in Kent’s life ever really is, not since his parents split, not since he started seriously pursuing hockey. He and Jack have a thousand things in common, even outside of hockey—they like shitty B movies, they both love _Catcher in the Rye_ —and that _alone_ means something. No one fucking liked that book junior year of high school when they all had to read it; no one except Kent.

Holden Caulfield is whiny, he’s angsty, his stream of consciousness is trying on everyone’s patience, all he cares about are phonies; Kent’s heard all the complaints. Then he hears what Jack says about it.

“My favorite book,” Jack had repeated quietly, a soft breath into the quiet of their shared hotel room on a roadie, responding to Kent’s spontaneous question. “ _Catcher_ , I think?”

Jack sounded hesitant for a second, as if waiting for Kent to dispute his answer, but when Kent said nothing, Jack just kept talking, voice raising in passion as he got going. “It’s kind of a mess, but it’s so—so _real_ , you know? Holden’s dealt with so much shit and he’s just trying to keep going and—and making meaning out of every little thing he experiences, because if he can’t, then it’s like life has no meaning. He needs to feel like he has a purpose, like he’s needed, that’s why he won’t let Jane go and why he wants to see his sister, and it…”

Jack breathed out; Kent held his breath. The space between their beds was a foot or two, but in that moment, it had felt like nothing. When Kent looked over, those blue eyes were impossibly bright in the darkness.

“It’s an important story,” Jack finished, back to a whisper again. “I don’t even know if—have you read it?”

Maybe it’s something about the way Jack had smiled, lit up only by the moonlight, immediate and sweet, when Kent had admitted that it was his favorite too.

There’s something about Jack Zimmermann.

Something, _something_ , Kent doesn’t know what, and maybe it doesn’t matter. Kent thinks, maybe, that he wants to kiss Jack and find out what happens.

For a while, he’s too scared to try—he’s not gay, and neither is Jack, but it’s just… Kent is dying to find out what it’s like.

There’s something about Jack, something indefinable, something unique, something amazing, something beautiful, something that Kent wants to see, wants to touch, wants to taste—

Those blue eyes meet Kent’s one day, and those pink lips stretch into that charming smile, and Kent thinks, _oh_. The way Jack is looking at him, it’s like he thinks there’s something special about Kent Parson.

Maybe Jack Zimmermann wants to kiss him too. Just to find out, just to _see_.

That’s enough for Kent to throw caution to the wind.

 

There’s something about kissing Jack Zimmermann. Something good. Something sweet.

 

Something right.

**Author's Note:**

> _"I wrapped my arms around the moment like I'm clutching a memory"_
> 
> \--The Bluest Things on Earth by The Wonder Years


End file.
